Noble Cars is hoping that its new M15 sportscar can blend its traditional values - good handling and high performance - with an ownership experience to rival the Porsche 911.
The firm's owner Lee Noble said the new 180+mph car - scheduled to go on sale before the end of this year - was created because his previous mid-sized challenger, the stillborn M14, 'lacked sufficient excitement'.
'After the M14 launch things changed,' he said. 'We were busy making M12s so it was a few months before I started looking at the car again - and then I found I didn't really like it. It was good but not too exciting. I'm a bit of an extrovert, as are our buyers. I just knew we needed something more exciting, as well as more grown-up.'
The M15 is 118mm longer than the M12, but the car is at least 250kg lighter than a Porsche 911. Its three-litre Ford-derived engine produces 455bhp and 455lb ft of torque, allowing the M15 to hit 60mph in four seconds and a maximum speed of around 185mph.
Noble is using a Porsche 911 regularly to gauge how the German brand has made its product such a compelling proposition. He'll need to come up with something similar for the M15 - at £74,950, it could be £10,000 more than a Carrera S.
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